In modern automotive vehicles it is known to display a projected image on a windshield utilizing a heads up display (HUD). The displayed image allows a driver to obtain vital vehicular information without deviating visual focus from the road. The vital vehicular information includes vehicle speed, rpms, turn signal indicators, fuel levels, state of charge, and warning indicators.
As the projected image includes vital information, it is important that the projected image be of sufficient size to allow a driver to easily recognize the projected information.
In previous configurations, the size of the projected image was increased by shifting the entire HUD system along an axis of display onto the windshield such that the HUD system moved farther away from the windshield on the display axis. However, as modern automotive vehicles become more complex, packaging constraints are reduced such that the HUD system is required to maintain a certain distance from the windshield.
Although it is known to utilize Fresnel lenses to magnify an image, there is a particular disadvantage in such use. Specifically, the Fresnel lens by its nature is known to distort an image thereby reducing the overall quality of the magnified image. As such, utilizing a Fresnel lens to magnify a projected image in a HUD system reduces the overall quality of the image projected on the windshield screen which reduces customer satisfaction and the aesthetically pleasing appearance of the HUD system itself.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to improve the previously known HUD system so as to provide a magnified image on the windshield while maintaining a packaging constraint and image quality.